Whitlam was a radical, according to the Institute of Public Affairs. A very successful radical, and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott could learn from him.

The IPA has released an extraordinary pamphlet: Be like Gough: 75 radical ideas to transform Australia.
You could even say it’s radical.
The argument goes something like: left-wing governments are more radical than right-wing governments and that swings the pendulum further left-wards so that even radical policies like Medicare “seem normal over time”.
Therefore when Mr Abbott becomes Prime Minister with an “intimidating mandate” he should go on a rampage. They’ve offered an eyebrow-raising list of suggested reforms.
It starts with repealing the carbon tax (no surprise there), sweeps through family benefits, privatising at will, shrinking the front bench and taking the occasional mean-spirited swipe at relatively innocuous institutions such as Harmony Day.
Abolish. Abolish. Abolish. Repeal. Repeal. Repeal.
The IPA is “an independent, non-profit public policy think tank, dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of economic and political freedom”.
They are relatively influential, they are a bunch of smart people, and it’s quite a slick looking publication.
But you have to ask…
… are they serious?
They stopped short of saying we should get rid of Medicare – we should just means test it. But they implied fairly strongly that it’s a bad idea:
(T)he public’s bias towards the status quo has a habit of making even the most radical policy (like Medicare, or restrictions on freedom of speech) seem normal over time. Despite the many obvious problems of socialised health care, no government now would challenge the foundations of Medicare as the Coalition did before it was implemented.
Do you agree with any of the things on the list? What would you add? What would you rule out?
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